Lose Control

Awake

      Softly Ranboo woke up delirious and unsure where he was. 

He slowly tried to retrace how he got there-or where there was. 

For a few moments, he was able to relax in the seemingly peaceful glade.

Slowly, as he assessed his surroundings, broken memories started to flood his head. 

An ominous feeling rushed through him as he slightly remembered the panic of running through the forest, then seeing the tree. 

He looked around him, but the tree he barely remembered was nowhere to be seen. 

He strived to remember more, but his memories seemed as distant as the stars. 

He decided he must get up and at least try to find something that he remembered. 

There had to be something close because why else would he be in the middle of a random forest, he reasoned. 

As he got up he assessed his surroundings, he heard the soft tweet of birds in the distance and saw two little bunnies running through the clover, the soft sunlight brought warmth to the serene afternoon. 

The more he looked around the more his previous fears melted away. 

Taking in a deep breath he was optimistic about his situation, even if he was lost in the woods with no real memories of how he got there. 

He noticed that he had a satchel appeared around him. 

It was a dark brown leather, with bronze straps. Undoing the straps Ranboo curiously looked inside at its contents. 

 There was bread, an apple, a carrot, a small knife, and a journal. 

The journal was leather-bound, brown with worn pages. It had a single leather strap tied in the front.

The front of the book had engraved the words "Do Not Read" on the top and around the center was a single crimson oval-shaped gem that looked half encased in the leather cover.

It seemed very familiar but he did remember what it was. "Wait until he was out of the woods to open it", he thought. He was a bit hungry so he took a bit out of the apple as he started walking into the woods.

     Some time went by, Ranboo couldn't tell how much but he finished the apple. 

The more he walked the more he felt lost. He would just be about to turn around when his eyes would catch something he thought he recognized, rushing to it, he always ended up confused.

The forest got darker as the sun started its descent to the horizon. 

A chilling feeling of panic started to follow Ranbo as he franticly wandered the forest. 

He was sure that he would find something or someone he recognized. 

He has to soon right? "How large was this place?" he asked himself with a variety of other questions racing through his head as he tried to figure out who he was and what he was doing or going to do. 

His steps started to come labored and hesitant as uncertainty overtook him. 

Just then he heard a ratel in the bush.

     Frozen Ranboo's brain raced as he stared at the bush. 

If this happened early in the day he wouldn't have been scared, he would have assumed it was a bunny, but now the forest grew ominous and cold as the sun lowered and uncertainty set in. 

The few seconds that Ranboo watched frozen, felt more like minutes. 

He shut his eyes tight as his body went rigged with fear. 

As the sounds got louder a weird sensation filled him, it felt electric like a tingling running throughout his body. 

He thought of the glade he woke up in earlier, desperate to be back there. 

Knowing that the creature drew closer, he desperately imagined the peaceful glade void of the fear that enveloped him at this moment.

     Instantaneously as he anticipated the creature's attack from the brush he felt himself moving.

Not him moving really, he was being moved involuntarily, his arms and legs not budging but still, he could tell he wasn't still. 

Even with his eyes closeted he saw a bright flash of light, it only lasted a second or two but it was non the less jarring. 

With his eyes still squeezed shut he tried to assess what happened. 

No longer did he hear the animal or the rattled bush, but he did hear the soft and familiar chirp of birds in a nearby tree. 

That soothing sound convinced him to slowly open his eyes.